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Dessert

Baked Macaroni Pudding

A baked pudding of macaroni simmered in sweetened milk, enriched with egg yolks and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Baked Macaroni Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the macaroni

  1. Boil the milk with the sugar, butter, and a pinch of salt.

  2. Add the macaroni broken into 1-inch lengths.

  3. Simmer the macaroni with the lid on for about 30 minutes.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the yolks and cream together.

  2. Add the vanilla to the yolk and cream mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Mix the macaroni with the custard by shaking, without a spoon.

  2. Bake in a buttered pan for about 30 minutes or until set.

  3. Serve with stewed raisins in wine sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the body of the pudding, giving it bulk and a tender bite once baked.
Milk
Cooks the pasta and, with the eggs, forms the liquid base that sets into custard.
Eggs
Egg yolks set during baking, binding the macaroni into a soft, custardy pudding.
Cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the custard a smoother, silkier texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and contributes to browning on the baked surface.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and flavor, and greases the pan to prevent sticking.

The step that matters

Baking until set. Egg proteins coagulate as they heat, so the pudding must bake until just set. Underbaking leaves it runny, while overbaking makes the custard grainy and dry.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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